Refrigerator-car



(No Model.)

B. E. MEYER, W. I. BODINE 8a 0. B. RULE.

REFRIGERATOR GAR.

No. 601,522. Patented Mar. 29,1898.

WITNESSES THE uonms PETERS no; FNOTO-LITHU.. WASHiNUTON. o c.

UNITED STATES A PATENT EIcE.

BERTHOLD E. MEYER, WILLIAM I. BODINE, AND CHRISTOPHER E. RULE,

. on SPRINGFIELD, M SSOURI.

REFRIGERATOR-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 601,522, dated March 29, 1898.

Application filed September 23, 1896- Serial No. 606.706. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, BERTHoLn E. MEYER, WILLIAM I. BODINE, and CHRISTOPHER E. RULE, of Springfield, in the county of Greene and State of Missouri, have invented a new and Improved Refrigerating-Car,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In the operation of refrigerator-cars it is often difficult to load a car without losing a very great proportion of the refrigerating medium. The object of this invention is to provide a car in which this loss may be reduced to the minimum. \Ve attain this end by providing a car having a peculiar construction by which the car is divided into compartments capable of more effectivelyprotectin g the refrigerating medium during the time when the doors of the car are open and the interior of the car is exposed to the atmosphere.

The invention consists in such features of I construction and combinations as will be spectively located at the end portions of the car and of such size and shape as to form two ice-bunkers O. The ice-bunkers C respectively run over the refrigerating-compartments B and down the outer ends thereof.

Located at and closing the inner side of each compartment 13 is a removable wall D. The walls D are duplicates of each other and consist of two'sections 10 and 11, pivotally connected by hinges '17. Formed in the contiguous edges of the sections 10 and 11 in each wall D are openings respectively receiving doors 18, hinged to the sections 10 and 11 and provided with a clasp 19, by which they may be held in closed position.

The upper edges of the walls D respectively bunkers C are closed by gates E.

extend a little above the upper sides of the refrigerating-compartments B, so as to effectually close these compartments. The icethe gates E are one for each wall D, and each consists in sections 12 and 13, pivotally connected by a hinge 16. 14. fixed to its outer side and near its upper portion. These brackets extend outward and upward to receive the sliding gates E. The gates are actuated by screws 15. means the gates may be raised or lowered to close the ice-bunkers O or to expose the same to the space between the walls 1)..

The hinge 16 in each gate E is in a plane parallel with the hinge 17 of the corresponding wall I. When the walls are to be introduced into the car, they are folded on their hinges and afterward spread so as to occupy the positions shown in the drawings. The

Each wall D has two brackets By these gates are placed by folding them to introduce them into the car, after which they are spread and the brackets 14: secured on the walls D to hold the gates.

In using the invention the ice-bunkers C are filled with ice through the usual hatches of the car. lVhen it is desired to fill the car, the gates E are moved upward, so as to close the bunkers C and prevent the entrance of atmosphere therein. The doors at the side of the car may now be freely opened and the perishable goods carried through the doors 18 and into the compartments B. When these,

compartments have been filled, the doors 18 should be closed and secured. The third compartm ent of the car-v1. e., the space between the walls D-may now be filled, so as to completely load the car, whereupon the gates E should be moved down, so that the air may circulate freely from the ice-bunkers 0 into the compartment between the walls D. When Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A refrigerating-car having an intermediately-located door in an exterior wall, two refrigeratingcompartments respectively located at the ends of the car, an ice-bunker above each refrigerating-compartment, a removable wall closing the inner end of each refrigerating-compartment, each wall being formed of two hingedly-connected sections, the contiguous edges of which are recessed, a door hung in each of said recesses, the two doors of each Wall coacting with each other to afford access to the respective refrigerating-compartments, and the two walls forming a third compartment located between the said walls and with which the exterior door of the car directly communicates, brackets respectively secured to the Walls, and a gate for each Wall, the gates sliding in the brackets, each gate being capable of closing the adjacent ice-bunker from communication with the said third refrigeratingcompartment, and each gate being formed of two hingedly-connected sections swinging to per mit placing the gate within the car, substantially as described.

2. A removable wall for refrigerating-cars or other structures, the wall having two hinged sections, the contiguous ends of which are recessed, and doors respectively hinged to close the recesses and to'engage each other, substantially as described.

3. A removable wall for refrigerating-cars or other structures, the wall having two hinged sections, the contiguous edges of which are recessed, two doors respectively hinged within the recesses and closing the same, a bracket carried by each section of the wall, and a gate slidable in the brackets, the gate having two hingedly-connected sections, substantially as described.

BERTHOLD E. MEYER. WILLIAM I. BODINE. CHRISTOPHER E. RULE.

lVitnesses:

E. G. LAURANOE, D. WIsHART. 

